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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gintautas Budrys believes that the question of Ukraine’s NATO membership has not been removed from the agenda, and in practice, one can already speak of a de facto gradual integration of Ukraine into the Alliance.
The minister agreed with the assessment that Ukraine already serves, to some extent, as a security guarantor for the EU and NATO’s eastern flank due to the experience, skills, and technologies gained over the years of war.
“Threats are very clear, especially after what happened last week in Poland, Romania, and earlier in Lithuania, when Russian drones entered our airspace. Therefore, we need an effective and adequate air defense to counter drones and other threats. And we know where to get all the knowledge — in Ukraine. This integrates us not only at the level of the defense industry but also politically and in terms of national policies,” the minister said.
Budrys believes that despite the “quieting” of public statements regarding Ukraine’s future in NATO, the process continues in another form.
“What we are seeing now is a ‘bottom-up’ process, and it is something new. Until now, discussions about Ukraine in NATO were ‘top-down,’ meaning at the political level, and Lithuania gave strong support in those discussions… But political discussions are one approach, and now we also have another: when we de facto integrate and cooperate, one day we will decide that security arrangements have become a de facto reality,” the minister explained.
He emphasized that he does not consider the question of Ukraine’s membership removed from the agenda.
“At the NATO summit, the wording was agreed that Ukraine’s accession will happen ‘when conditions allow.’ This means that once we reach unanimity, it will happen very quickly, as was the case with the recent NATO accession of Sweden and Finland. But we should not waste time and should already de facto integrate more and more now,” Gintautas Budrys said.
“NATO is, above all, Article 5. And ‘Article 5’ means that I commit to die for your security, because it is also my security. That is how personal and ‘intimate’ it is. These are the closest, most intimate relations possible. And yes, we will definitely achieve this,” he added.
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